


Delicate

by meracanaries



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 13:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14213829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meracanaries/pseuds/meracanaries
Summary: Cheryl only wanted a drink, she certainly didn't expected it to go like this





	Delicate

This ain't for the best  
My reputation's never been worse, so  
You must like me for me…  
We can't make  
Any promises now, can we, babe?  
But you can make me a drink

„One Bloody Mary.“ Cheryl said sliding onto one of the bar stools with ease, her brown eyes focusing on the pink haired girl behind the bar who was smirking at her before she replied.  
„Don‘t you think it‘s a bit too early for that?“  
„Sorry I assumed you‘re here to deliver the drinks the guests order without judging.“  
Cheryl bit back earning yet another smug grin from the shorter girl.  
„Whatever you say, bombshell.“  
„Shut it Cha Cha, just make me the damn drink.“  
„A bit eager, aren‘t we?“ Toni replied, before she grabbed the tomato juice pouring it into a glass and pushed it towards Cheryl who looked at her irritated.  
„That‘s tomato juice.“ She stated while Toni laughed before she replied  
„I‘m aware, I made it.“  
„I ordered Bloody Mary.“ Cheryl said glaring at Toni who just shrugged her shoulders.  
„I know what you ordered, I heard you. However it is way too early to drink and as far as I‘m concerned you‘re not even legally allowed to drink yet, so I won‘t give you a Bloody Mary.“  
Cheryl‘s gazed down before she silently said „Why would you even care what I do.“  
„Why wouldn‘t I?“ Toni replied her gaze softening, searching for Cheryl to return the look.  
„You don‘t even know me, believe me if you did you would answer differently.“ Cheryl replied, still staring at the juice in front of her.  
„Don‘t you think that‘s for me to decide?“ Toni replied while she looked at the redhead, trying to work out how the girl in front of her worked. She could almost feel the pain that Cheryl seemed to radiate and she knew that if it weren‘t for the cold facade that the redhead put up, people would see her for who she really was, a young girl whose life probably was way worse than she made it seem. 

„Listen, I came here for a drink, not for therapy.“ Cheryl replied sounding a bit annoyed but Toni could tell that the annoyance was fake, she would probably have to break down a lot of walls to get through to Cheryl but she was determined to try, since no one else seemed to be willing to put in some effort with the redhead.  
„I‘m not stopping you from leaving, feel free to leave at any time, but I‘ll make sure you don‘t leave drunk.“  
„Don‘t you have someone else to worry about?“ Cheryl snapped shooting Toni yet another angry glare.  
„No, not really it‘s a bit early for people to drink, you have my undivided attention.“  
Toni replied unfazed by Cheryl‘s icy gaze. She didn‘t want to start a fight with the taller girl, but two could play a game and if Cheryl was intent on playing bitchy that‘s what she would get in return.  
„I don‘t want your attention, I don‘t care what you do, just leave me alone, Antoinette.“  
Toni raised an eyebrow, the smirk slowly reappearing on her face while she leaned over the bar, face inching closer to Cheryl‘s who was now looking up.  
„You sure about that, Cheryl? Because apparently you care enough to know about my full name.“  
If she didn‘t know any better she could‘ve sworn that Cheryl blushed bright red before she quickly put up her defensive look and snapped back at her.  
„I happen to be in your class, the teacher called you by your full name.“  
„Ah yeah, if you say so.“ Toni replied, cleaning one of the cocktail glasses before she looked back to Cheryl who had now started to sip on her tomato juice.  
„Why won‘t you let people in?“ Toni asked silently, it wasn‘t even meant to be a question towards Cheryl, she didn‘t mean for the redhead to hear it, but she realized too late that she had thought out loud.  
„I don‘t see how this is any of your business, we‘re not even friends.“ Cheryl shot back before she shoved the now empty glass back at Toni, jumping up from her seat, leaving the bar in a hurry. 

„Shit.“ Toni mumbled looking around for her colleague to take over the bar for a while.  
Luckily Fangs and Sweet Pea entered the Whyte Wyrm and she waved them over quickly.  
„Can one of you take over for a while, it‘s important, no questions.“ She said jumping over the counter quickly, leaving the two boys behind, rushing after Cheryl who already had quiet the head start. 

„Cheryl, wait!“ Toni shouted after her but of course the redhead didn‘t react. Toni sighed, before she tried to run faster, slowly coming closer to Cheryl, who didn‘t bother to run.  
„Leave me alone Toni.“ she said once the Serpent girl slowed down next to her, both of them walking now.  
„No, I won‘t. You might think that pushing people away is a good idea, but it isn‘t Cheryl and it won‘t work on me.“  
„It‘s none of your fucking business, don‘t you get it, every bad thing you heard about me is probably true, just leave me alone and go on with your life.“  
Toni stopped abruptly spinning towards Cheryl, grabbing her shoulders, stopping the redhead from walking.  
„I know what you‘re trying to do, you‘re trying to scare me away because you‘re afraid that if I get to know you and don‘t like who you are I‘m going to leave. Listen, I don‘t care what others might say about you, I don‘t care what their opinions on you are, if they just see what you want them to see that‘s their problem, but I can see that you only act this tough to hide how you really feel, I‘m not going anywhere, not when you try to push me away and certainly not because some might try to advice me to stay away, that‘s not how things work for me, if I care, I really care. So don‘t try to tell me that I shouldn‘t care, if I like someone, I like them.“  
Toni finally took a breath while she looked into Cheryl‘s brown eyes that slowly filled with tears. 

„I can‘t Toni, I‘ll ruin you.“ Cheryl whispered before she stepped back.  
„I don‘t care. I wouldn‘t be here if I didn‘t want to, I don‘t know what I have to say to make you believe that I don‘t care about what others say, I only care about you, Cheryl.“  
„No one cares about me, don‘t you get it?! People who care about me either get disappointed or die, I don‘t want either of these things to happen to you!“ Cheryl shouted angrily secretly hoping that it would scare Toni away.  
„Don‘t be so stubborn, I‘m begging you Cheryl, you‘re hurting both of us with this and I swear I can take it, but I‘m not sure how much more hurt you can take before you break, so please stop pushing me away.“ Toni knew that she was only a few steps away from crying, she had known that it would be difficult to talk to Cheryl, she knew that she was taking a risk but she didn‘t think that it would be this difficult.  
The walls Cheryl had built up were higher than she expected and slowly her hopes of breaking them down were fading, developing to fear that she would never be able to bring them down.  
„See, I‘m already hurting you, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid! I‘m out, I‘m not doing this.“ Cheryl said trying to storm off but Toni blocked her way before she simply grabbed Cheryl and kissed her.  
If her words didn‘t convince the redhead, maybe a kiss could.  
It was a gentle kiss at first but due to the fact that both of them were torn up because of their argument it quickly grew more heated and quiet aggressive. 

As soon as their lips parted again Cheryl shoved Toni away who stumbled backwards in surprise, almost falling.  
„Don‘t do that ever again.“ Cheryl growled, eyes glistening dangerously.  
During that moment Toni saw so many emotions in Cheryl‘s gaze, fear, anger, desire, maybe a bit hate yet at the same time something that came pretty close to love. It was overwhelming and she didn‘t know what to say so they both just stood there staring at each other.  
„What if I want to?“ Toni finally said immediately noticing how Cheryl tensed up again.  
„You don‘t get it, do you? I can‘t do this.“ Cheryl said her voice cracking, Toni noticed immediately it was not like she wanted to forcefully break Cheryl‘s walls down but maybe that was the only way to get through to her.  
„Then look me in the eyes and tell me that you‘re not feeling this, tell me that you didn‘t feel anything during that kiss, tell me that you don‘t want to kiss me again.“  
Cheryl opened her mouth to reply but quickly closed it again, unable to actually say something.  
„You can‘t, can you? Because it would be a lie. You do feel something, maybe you feel way more than those people who tried to convince you that you can‘t. You just have to let me in, Cheryl. I won‘t leave you behind and I know that you won‘t leave either. You might not know it yet, but you deserve someone who‘s willing to fight for you, someone who takes you the way that you are, someone who shows you that you can be loved.“  
She had expected a lot of things, Cheryl slapping her was one of them, another one was Cheryl telling her to go fuck herself, what Toni didn‘t expect was Cheryl launching herself into her arms before she broke down crying.  
Toni gently wrapped her arms around the taller girl, carefully patting her back.  
„Shh it‘s alright I got you now.“ Toni whispered while Cheryl still sobbed.  
„I don‘t deserve someone like you, I‘m not good enough.“ Cheryl said once she stopped crying.  
„You are good enough, you deserve love, you just have to let me show you how much love you deserve. I can‘t promise you that it‘s going to be easy because it won‘t be, but once we get there, I know we will be unstoppable and it might seem like a bad idea right now, but sometimes the most hopeless scenarios turn out pretty damn great. Maybe we had a rough start, but what does it matter, if we both put effort into this we can make this work, you just have to help me with this instead of fighting it, because I can‘t do it alone, I want to be able to tell you that I love you someday, because I believe that you‘re someone special. The others might not be able to see it but I can tell that you‘re extraordinary and I‘d be a fool to walk away now. So for once stop believing that you ain‘t worth it, because that‘s simply not true, you have a good heart, you just went through a lot of bad things and promised to not let anyone in, that‘s all. It‘ll take time for you to open up, I get that, but we‘ll have to start somewhere.“  
Toni looked at Cheryl with pleading eyes, if Cheryl said no to her now, she didn‘t know what else to do, she had put all her cards on the table and made herself way more vulnerable than she had intended to, if Cheryl decided that she didn‘t want her, she could completely break Toni and both of them knew it. 

It was silent, deadly silent Toni could hear her own heartbeat and it was racing, Cheryl wasn‘t saying anything she just stood there staring at the Serpent girl who was close to tears now. Maybe she shouldn‘t have said anything, perhaps she should‘ve kept her mouth shut and maybe she should‘ve pushed those stupid feelings that she had for Cheryl away, maybe she had been wrong when she thought that Cheryl felt the same and was just too scared to admit it. 

Suddenly she felt soft lips press against hers, Toni gasped in surprise while Cheryl wrapped her arms around the shorter girl, with no intention to break the kiss anytime soon.  
When they both ran out of air the hesitantly pulled back, faces just inches apart.  
„I can‘t make any promises right now, but I‘ll try my best.“ Cheryl said silently while Toni smiled at her softly.  
„That‘s good enough for me.“  
„Will you make me a Bloody Mary now?“ Cheryl asked trying to hold back a smile.  
„Not if you have magically aged a few years during the last hour, but I can make you an extra spicy tomato juice.“ Toni said laughing earning a groan from the redhead in return.  
„I hate you.“ Cheryl said pulling out of their embrace.  
„No you don‘t.“ Toni replied still laughing.  
„You‘re right, I don‘t.“ Cheryl said smiling before she grabbed Toni‘s hand.  
„And now let‘s go back and get that extra spicy tomato juice.“


End file.
